Influence of Prior Exercise on VO(2) Kinetics Subsequent Exhaustive Rowing Performance

Prior exercise has the potential to enhance subsequent performance by accelerating the oxygen uptake (VO(2)) kinetics. The present study investigated the effects of two different intensities of prior exercise on pulmonary VO(2) kinetics and exercise time during subsequent exhaustive rowing exercise. It was hypothesized that in prior heavy, but not prior moderate exercise condition, overall VO(2) kinetics would be faster and the VO(2) primary amplitude would be higher, leading to longer exercise time at VO(2max). Six subjects (mean ± SD; age: 22.9±4.5 yr; height: 181.2±7.1 cm and body mass: 75.5±3.4 kg) completed square-wave transitions to 100% of VO(2max) from three different conditions: without prior exercise, with prior moderate and heavy exercise. VO(2) was measured using a telemetric portable gas analyser (K4b(2), Cosmed, Rome, Italy) and the data were modelled using either mono or double exponential fittings. The use of prior moderate exercise resulted in a faster VO(2) pulmonary kinetics response (τ(1) = 13.41±3.96 s), an improved performance in the time to exhaustion (238.8±50.2 s) and similar blood lactate concentrations ([La(−)]) values (11.8±1.7 mmol.L(−1)) compared to the condition without prior exercise (16.0±5.56 s, 215.3±60.1 s and 10.7±1.2 mmol.L(−1), for τ(1), time sustained at VO(2max) and [La(−)], respectively). Performance of prior heavy exercise, although useful in accelerating the VO(2) pulmonary kinetics response during a subsequent time to exhaustion exercise (τ(1) = 9.18±1.60 s), resulted in a shorter time sustained at VO(2max) (155.5±46.0 s), while [La(−)] was similar (13.5±1.7 mmol.L(−1)) compared to the other two conditions. Although both prior moderate and heavy exercise resulted in a faster pulmonary VO(2) kinetics response, only prior moderate exercise lead to improved rowing performance.